Canada’s travel and hospitality sector has been left reeling by the federal government warning against non-essential trips abroad due to alarming numbers of COVID-19 cases.
WestJet CEO Harry Taylor railed against the advisory, predicting it will create “unnecessary disruption and chaos” ahead of the holiday travel season.
“Fully vaccinated Canadians should not be singled out for choosing to take part in a safe activity,” Taylor said in a statement.
“Travel bans, restrictions and blanket advisories are devastating to the continued economic recovery of the country and place tens of thousands of recently recalled Canadian travel and tourism jobs at risk.”
He also claimed the government’s warning is “not based on science and data,” adding that Canada’s travel measures fall out of step with border policies in the European Union, United Kingdom and United States. He is calling on the government to publicly share the COVID-19 data that informed Wednesday’s…